12 2 STA T . 2 43 4 PUBLIC LA W 11 0– 2 6 0 —J UL Y 1 , 200 8(7)SenatorB roo k e g ra du ated f ro mP au lL auren c e D un b ar Hi g h School and w ent on to graduate from Howard U ni v er s it y in 194 1 . ( 8 ) Senator Brooke ’ s enduring advocacy for self - government and congressional voting rights for the citi z ens of W ashington , D C has roots in his life and p ersonal e x perience as a native Washingtonian. (9) Senator Brooke served for 5 years in the United States A rmy in the segregated 36 6th I nfantry R egiment during World War II in the E uropean theater of operations, attaining the rank of captain and receiving a Bronze Star M edal for ‘ ‘heroic or meritorious achievement or service’’ and the Distinguished Service Award. (1 0 ) After the war, Senator Brooke attended Boston Univer- sity School of Law, where he served as editor of the school’s Law Review, graduating with an LL.B. in 1948 and an LL.M. in 1949, and made Massachusetts his home. (11) During his career in Congress, Senator Brooke was a leader on some of the most critical issues of his time, including the war in V ietnam, the struggle for civil rights, the shameful system of apartheid in South Africa, the Cold War, and United States’ relations with the People’s Republic of China. (1 2 ) President Lyndon B. J ohnson appointed Senator Brooke to the President’s Commission on Civil Disorders in 1967, where his work on discrimination in housing would serve as the basis for the 1968 Civil Rights Act. (13) Senator Brooke continued to champion open housing when he left the Senate and became the head of the N ational Low-Income Housing Coalition. (14) Senator Brooke has been recognized with many high honors, among them the Presidential Medal of F reedom in 2004, an honor that recognizes ‘‘an especially meritorious con- tribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or pri- vate endeavors’’
the G rand Cross of the O rder of Merit from the Government of Italy; a State courthouse dedicated in his honor by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, making him the first African American to have a State courthouse named in his honor; the NAACP Spingarn Medal; and the Charles Evans Hughes award from the National Conference of Chris- tians and Jews. (15) Senator Brooke’s biography, Bridging T he Divide
My Life, was published in 2006, and he is the author of The Challenge of Change: Crisis in Our Two-Party System, pub- lished in 1966. (16) Senator Brooke became a racial pioneer, but race was never at the center of his political campaigns. (17) He demonstrated to all that with commitment, deter- mination, and strength of character, even the barriers once thought insurmountable can be overcome. (18) He has devoted his life to the service of others, and made enormous contributions to our society today. (19) The life and accomplishments of Senator Brooke is inspiring proof, as he says, that ‘‘people can be elected on the basis of their q ualifications and not their race’’.
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